There so much uproar about the Trump call being criminal that I think people are missing an important part of it. Trump seems to legitimately believe he won and that he's being cheated out of the election. That would make Trump's call to Raffensperger much less a criminal thing. If he legitimately believes he won Georgia, it takes much of the mens rea away. To him, he's not trying to steal an election, he's trying to set it right.
I think the problem here is that Trump is a narcissist. And not like a run of the mill narcissist. Like a clinical narcissist. Mental illness level narcissism. He can't comprehend a world in which he didn't win the election. His brain literally will not let him consider that as a possibility. So the only conclusion is that the Democrats are trying to steal the election from him. So to him, he's fighting to preserve the legitimacy of the election because, to him, any legitimate election he wins by a landslide.
We're seeing delusions at work here, not some evil coup attempt.
There so much uproar about the Trump call being criminal that I think people are missing an important part of it. Trump seems to legitimately believe he won and that he's being cheated out of the election. That would make Trump's call to Raffensperger much less a criminal thing. If he legitimately believes he won Georgia, it takes much of the mens rea away. To him, he's not trying to steal an election, he's trying to set it right.
I think the problem here is that Trump is a narcissist. And not like a run of the mill narcissist. Like a clinical narcissist. Mental illness level narcissism. He can't comprehend a world in which he didn't win the election. His brain literally will not let him consider that as a possibility. So the only conclusion is that the Democrats are trying to steal the election from him. So to him, he's fighting to preserve the legitimacy of the election because, to him, any legitimate election he wins by a landslide.
We're seeing delusions at work here, not some evil coup attempt.
There so much uproar about the Trump call being criminal that I think people are missing an important part of it. Trump seems to legitimately believe he won and that he's being cheated out of the election. That would make Trump's call to Raffensperger much less a criminal thing. If he legitimately believes he won Georgia, it takes much of the mens rea away. To him, he's not trying to steal an election, he's trying to set it right.
I think the problem here is that Trump is a narcissist. And not like a run of the mill narcissist. Like a clinical narcissist. Mental illness level narcissism. He can't comprehend a world in which he didn't win the election. His brain literally will not let him consider that as a possibility. So the only conclusion is that the Democrats are trying to steal the election from him. So to him, he's fighting to preserve the legitimacy of the election because, to him, any legitimate election he wins by a landslide.
We're seeing delusions at work here, not some evil coup attempt.
Question for you and other legal eagles. If sincere belief in an alternative narrative works as a defense, where does that leave the law.
In this particular situation, Raffensperger and others have laid out the facts to very poorly chosen one. But he chooses an alternative narrative. Is that all it takes to get away with a crime.
By the way I agree that he suffering from delusional thinking driven by his narcissism. It must be nice to be like that if the end result is you can get away with behavior that gets the rest of us locked up.
This is insane reasoning
How so? If he knows he lost and is trying to steal the election, that's one level of evil. If he believes he won due to narcissistic delusions and so is trying, in his mind, to keep the election from being stolen. Mental state is extremely important when discussing crimes.
Again, I don't think either situation is good for us. A criminal or someone operating under a delusion isn't a great choice.
The right wing idiotic lunatic is gonna be a darling for the radicals
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Most crimes require both mens rea (criminal intent) and actus reus (criminal act) to be a crime. If you have a sincere belief that is incorrect but, if correct, your actions would not be criminal, then you have no mens rea.
For example, suppose I see a wallet sitting on a table and I think it's my wallet. I pick it up and put it in my pocket. The police stop me and take the wallet and determine it's not mine. I've not committed a crime. I had no criminal intent as had my mistaken belief been correct, I wouldn't be stealing.
With Trump, whether or not the call was actually criminal would depend on the specific statutes involved and what elements are required. I haven't researched that exhaustively enough to speak on it. I will say the fact that he seems to think he's fighting to ensure a result he believes is correct reduces the culpability. It doesn't make the situation better as a narcissist operating under delusions is hardly a better person to have as a president than a criminal.